10.24.2013

It's still hard for me to believe, but in one more week
my book on Chernobyl and Fukushima will be out. It's called Would You Stay? and
it's being published by TED Books, the people who do the TED talks.

It's an e-book, which makes it feel less tangible but I
am so excited I keep waking up and wondering if it is really happening.

I first went to Chernobyl in 2007 and I've been working
on this on and off for 6 years. I never expected initially it would become such a big project but it always felt important, and after the 3.11 earthquake in Fukushima it felt doubly important.

During the next week I'll post some photos from the
opening sequence. Today just the cover...

Here's a caption:

If you arrive by train, as the nuclear personnel do, this
is your first view of the sprawling Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, across the
cooling pond. The station that once generated power now consumes it. The new
heating plant has the only active smokestack on the horizon. Beside it are the
unfinished, abandoned cooling towers. Beyond the smokestack at right is the
“Shelter Object” which covers the Fourth Block of the plant.

Even after Fukushima, Chernobyl remains the site of the
world's worst nuclear accident. The population within 30 kilometers was
permanently evacuated, including residents of Pripyat and many villages.
Although the Chernobyl plant finally stopped generating electricity in December
2000, today 3,700 employees continue to work at the plant. They commute from
their new city of Slavutych, which was built after the accident to replace
Pripyat.